Shocking footage emerged on social media from Friday night, which a man is seen running up to the coffin of the recently deceased Queen Elizabth II, and actually manages to touch it, before he is violently tackled to the ground by police officers, who then arrested him.
“He was arrested for an offence under the Public Order Act and is currently in custody,” a statement by the London Metropolitan Police stated.
The video — which has since gone viral — showed a crowd of mourners looking on in horror as the police officers leapt upon him and tackled him to the floor, before removing him from the hall.
Interestingly, the live feed showing the Queen lying in state briefly cut to an outside shot of the Palace of Westminster during the incident — thereby demonstrating how tightly scripted events involving the British Monarchy are. This event in particular, given its importance.
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The Wall Street Journal reported that the man tried to pull the Royal Standard off the coffin, but that the police managed to tackle him in time.
“It was quite shocking, but it lasted just two or three seconds before they carried him away,” the US-based paper quoted Surrey resident Paul Denton as saying.
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